CN113545153A

CN113545153A - Method, terminal equipment and base station for random access process

Info

Publication number: CN113545153A
Application number: CN202080019302.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 林志鹏; Y·布兰肯希普; 张剑威; R·M·哈里森
Original assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson AB
Current assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson AB
Priority date: 2019-07-08
Filing date: 2020-05-22
Publication date: 2021-10-22
Also published as: EP3997938A4; EP3997938A1; WO2021004172A1; US20230015550A1; JP2022539637A; JP7220797B2; AR119315A1

Abstract

A method, a terminal device and a base station for a random access procedure are disclosed. According to one embodiment, a terminal device determines a frequency hopping configuration for transmitting one or more Physical Uplink Shared Channels (PUSCHs) in a request message for random access. And the terminal equipment transmits the one or more PUSCHs in the request message based on the frequency hopping configuration. The request message includes at least a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) preamble and the one or more PUSCHs.

Description

Method, terminal equipment and base station for random access process

Technical Field

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to wireless communications and, more particularly, to a method, a terminal device and a base station for a random access procedure.

Background

This section introduces aspects that may facilitate a better understanding of the present disclosure. Accordingly, the statements in this section are to be read in this sense and are not to be construed as admissions about what is prior art or what is not prior art.

In a New Radio (NR) system, a four-step method as shown in fig. 1 may be used for a random access procedure. In the method, a User Equipment (UE) detects a Synchronization Signal (SS), and decodes broadcasted system information, which may be distributed over multiple physical channels, such as a Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH) and a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH), to obtain random access transmission parameters, and then transmits a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) preamble (message 1, abbreviated as msg1) on the uplink. The next generation node b (gnb) detects message 1 and responds with a random access response (RAR, message 2, abbreviated msg 2). The UE then sends the UE identity (message 3, abbreviated msg3) on the Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH). The gNB then sends a contention resolution message (CRM, message 4, abbreviated msg4) to the UE to resolve collisions caused when multiple UEs transmit the same PRACH preamble.

Disclosure of Invention

This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the detailed description. This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.

It is an object of the present disclosure to provide another solution for a random access procedure.

According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, a method performed by a terminal device is provided. The method includes determining a frequency hopping configuration for transmitting one or more Physical Uplink Shared Channels (PUSCHs) in a request message for random access. The method also includes transmitting the one or more PUSCHs in the request message based on the frequency hopping configuration. The request message includes at least a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) preamble and the one or more PUSCHs.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the frequency hopping configuration may include one or more parameters indicating: enabling and/or disabling of frequency hopping; a starting Physical Resource Block (PRB) for frequency hopping; a frequency offset for frequency hopping; a frequency hopping type, which is one of intra-slot frequency hopping, inter-slot frequency hopping, intra-PUSCH Opportunity (PO), and inter-PO frequency hopping; a number of slots spanned by the one or more PUSCHs; and Redundancy Version (RV) for more than one PUSCH.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the frequency hopping configuration may be determined based on Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling. In this way, the PUSCH for the request message for random access can be transmitted with an appropriate hopping configuration.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the RRC signaling may be cell-specific RRC signaling or RRC signaling specific to the terminal device.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the terminal device may determine to disable frequency hopping when no frequency offset is configured in the RRC signaling.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the terminal device may determine to disable frequency hopping when a frequency offset is set to zero in the RRC signaling.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the one or more parameters in the frequency hopping configuration may be determined to be predetermined values. In this way, the PUSCH for the request message for random access can be transmitted with an appropriate hopping configuration.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the one or more parameters in the frequency hopping configuration may be determined based on a PRACH configuration for the PRACH preamble. In this way, the PUSCH for the request message for random access can be transmitted with an appropriate hopping configuration.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the PRACH configuration for the PRACH preamble may include one or more of: an extended PRACH configuration table from which one or more parameters in the frequency hopping configuration can be retrieved according to a PRACH configuration index; a number of PRACH opportunities; a starting PRB of the PRACH preamble; and whether to perform random access as contention-based random access (CBRA) or contention-free random access (CFRA).

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the terminal device may determine to enable frequency hopping when the number of PRACH opportunities assumes a predetermined value.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, a frequency offset for frequency hopping may be determined as a function of the number of PRACH opportunities.

In embodiments of the present disclosure, a starting PRB for frequency hopping may be determined as a function of the number of PRACH opportunities and/or the starting PRB of the PRACH preamble.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the one or more parameters in the frequency hopping configuration may be determined based on a PUSCH configuration for the request message. In this way, the PUSCH for the request message for random access can be transmitted with an appropriate hopping configuration.

In embodiments of the present disclosure, the PUSCH configuration for the request message may include one or more parameters indicating: enabling and/or disabling of transform precoding; a number of PRBs spanned by one or more POs of one or more sizes; the location of the PO to be used; the size of the PO set to be used; the location of the PO set to be used; a starting PRB for a PO for a first hop; the starting PRB of the PO set to be used.

In embodiments of the present disclosure, the frequency offset for frequency hopping may be determined as a function of at least one of: a number of PRBs spanned by the one or more POs having the one or more sizes; and the location of the PO to be used.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the frequency offset may be determined as a scaling factor multiplied by a number of PRBs spanned by the one or more POs of one or more sizes.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the starting PRB for frequency hopping may be determined as a function of at least one of: a number of PRBs spanned by the one or more POs having the one or more sizes; a starting PRB of the PO for the first hop; and a starting PRB of the PO set to be used.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the one or more parameters in the frequency hopping configuration may be determined based on one or more of: whether a cell serving the terminal device uses Frequency Division Duplexing (FDD) or Time Division Duplexing (TDD); different frequency bands in which the terminal device operates; whether a regular uplink carrier or a supplementary uplink carrier is to be used for the random access; whether the random access is to be performed in an initial active uplink bandwidth part (BWP); and the size of the active BWP. In this way, the PUSCH for the request message for random access can be transmitted with an appropriate hopping configuration.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, a frequency offset for frequency hopping may be determined based on a size of the active BWP.

In an embodiment of the disclosure, the method may further include providing user data, and forwarding the user data to the host via transmission to the base station.

According to a second aspect of the present disclosure, a method performed by a base station is provided. The method includes determining a frequency hopping configuration to be used by a terminal device to transmit one or more PUSCHs in a request message for random access. The method also includes receiving the one or more PUSCHs in a request message for random access based on the frequency hopping configuration.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the frequency hopping configuration may include one or more parameters indicating: enabling and/or disabling of frequency hopping; a starting PRB for frequency hopping; a frequency offset for frequency hopping; a frequency hopping type which is one of intra-slot frequency hopping, inter-slot frequency hopping, intra-PO frequency hopping, and inter-PO frequency hopping; a number of slots spanned by the one or more PUSCHs; and RV for more than one PUSCH.

According to a third aspect of the present disclosure, a terminal device is provided. The terminal device includes at least one processor and at least one memory. The at least one memory includes instructions executable by the at least one processor whereby the terminal device is operable to determine a frequency hopping configuration for transmitting one or more PUSCHs in a request message for random access. The terminal device is further operable to transmit the one or more PUSCHs in the request message based on the frequency hopping configuration. The request message includes at least a PRACH preamble and the one or more PUSCHs.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the terminal device may be operable to perform the method according to the first aspect described above.

According to a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, a base station is provided. The base station includes at least one processor and at least one memory. The at least one memory includes instructions executable by the at least one processor whereby the base station is operable to determine a frequency hopping configuration to be used by a terminal device to send one or more PUSCHs in a request message for random access. The base station is further operable to receive the one or more PUSCHs in a request message for random access based on the frequency hopping configuration.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the base station may be operable to perform the method according to the second aspect described above.

According to a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, a computer program product is provided. The computer program product comprises instructions which, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the method according to any one of the first and second aspects described above.

According to a sixth aspect of the present disclosure, a computer-readable storage medium is provided. The computer-readable storage medium contains instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform the method according to any one of the first and second aspects described above.

According to a seventh aspect of the present disclosure, a terminal device is provided. The terminal device includes a determination module to determine a frequency hopping configuration for transmitting one or more PUSCHs in a request message for random access. The terminal device includes a transmitting module configured to transmit the one or more PUSCHs in the request message based on the frequency hopping configuration. The request message includes at least a PRACH preamble and the one or more PUSCHs.

According to an eighth aspect of the present disclosure, a base station is provided. The base station comprises a determining module for determining a frequency hopping configuration to be used by a terminal device to transmit one or more PUSCHs in a request message for random access. The base station further comprises a receiving module for receiving the one or more PUSCHs in a request message for random access based on the frequency hopping configuration.

According to a ninth aspect of the present disclosure, a method implemented in a communication system is provided. The method comprises the following steps: at the base station, a frequency hopping configuration to be used by the terminal device to transmit one or more PUSCHs in a request message for random access is determined. The method further comprises the following steps: determining, at the terminal device, the frequency hopping configuration for transmitting one or more PUSCHs in the request message for random access. The method further comprises the following steps: transmitting, at the terminal device, the one or more PUSCHs in the request message based on the frequency hopping configuration. The request message includes at least a PRACH preamble and the one or more PUSCHs. The method further comprises the following steps: receiving, at the base station, the one or more PUSCHs in the request message for random access based on the frequency hopping configuration.

According to a tenth aspect of the present disclosure, a communication system is provided. The communication system comprises a base station configured to: determining a frequency hopping configuration to be used by a terminal device to transmit one or more PUSCHs in a request message for random access; and receiving the one or more PUSCHs in the request message for random access based on the frequency hopping configuration. The communication system further comprises the terminal device configured to: determining the frequency hopping configuration for transmitting one or more PUSCHs in a request message for random access; and transmitting the one or more PUSCHs in the request message based on the frequency hopping configuration. The request message includes at least a PRACH preamble and the one or more PUSCHs.

Drawings

These and other objects, features and advantages of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following detailed description of illustrative embodiments thereof, which is to be read in connection with the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 is a diagram showing a four-step random access procedure in NR;

fig. 2 is a diagram showing a two-step random access procedure in NR;

fig. 3 is a diagram showing a PUSCH set for msgA;

fig. 4 is a diagram illustrating PRACH configuration in NR;

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating a method implemented at a terminal device in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating a method implemented at a base station in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating an apparatus suitable for use in practicing some embodiments of the present disclosure;

fig. 8 is a block diagram illustrating a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a base station according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a telecommunications network connected to a host via an intermediate network, in accordance with some embodiments;

figure 11 is a diagram illustrating a host communicating with user equipment via a base station, in accordance with some embodiments;

fig. 12 is a flow diagram illustrating a method implemented in a communication system in accordance with some embodiments;

fig. 13 is a flow diagram illustrating a method implemented in a communication system in accordance with some embodiments;

fig. 14 is a flow diagram illustrating a method implemented in a communication system in accordance with some embodiments; and

fig. 15 is a flow diagram illustrating a method implemented in a communication system in accordance with some embodiments.

Detailed Description

For purposes of explanation, numerous details are set forth in the following description in order to provide a thorough understanding of the disclosed embodiments. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that the embodiments may be practiced without these specific details or with an equivalent arrangement.

In a four-step random access procedure, the UE sends PUSCH (message 3) after receiving a timing advance command in the RAR and after adjusting the timing of the PUSCH transmission, allowing reception of PUSCH at the gNB with timing accuracy within the Cyclic Prefix (CP). Without this timing advance function, a very large CP would be needed to be able to demodulate and detect PUSCH unless the system is applied in a cell where there is a very small distance between the UE and the gNB. Since NR will also support larger cells, there is a need to provide timing advance to the UE, and therefore the random access procedure requires a four-step approach.

Fig. 2 shows a 2-step random access procedure. As shown in fig. 2, in the 2-step random access procedure, the steps of detecting a Synchronization Signal (SS)/PBCH block and system information are the same as those in the 4-step method, but initial access is accomplished in only two steps in order to minimize the number of channel accesses. At a first step, the UE sends a request message for random access (which may be denoted as message a, abbreviated msgA), which includes, for example, a random access preamble and higher layer data (such as an RRC connection request), and possibly some extra payload on the PUSCH. At a second step, the gNB sends a response message (which may be denoted as message B, abbreviated msgB) including, for example, UE identifier allocation, timing advance information, and contention resolution messages, etc.

In NR release 15(Rel-15), msg3 hopping is enabled or disabled by a hopping flag indicated in RAR messages for initial msg3 transmissions, as shown in table 1 below (see table 8.2-1) copied from 3 rd generation partnership project (3GPP) Technical Specification (TS)38.213V15.5.0, and msg3 hopping is indicated in a Downlink Control Information (DCI) format for retransmission of msg3 with a Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) scrambled by a temporary cell radio network temporary identifier (TC-RNTI).

RAR authorization field	Number of bits
		Frequency hopping sign	1
PUSCH frequency resource allocation	14
		PUSCH time resource allocation	4
MCS	4
		TPC commands for PUSCH	3
CSI request	1

Table 1: random access response authorization content field size

Specifically, the "hopping flag" indicated in DCI format 0_0 with CRC scrambled by TC-RNTI is a hopping flag occupying 1 bit according to table 7.3.1.1.1-3 defined in subclause 6.3 of TS 38.214 V15.5.0.

For msg3 PUSCH transmissions, frequency hopping is not allowed for PUSCH transmissions with resource allocation type 0, which cannot be used when transform precoding (transform precoding) is enabled or when PUSCH is scheduled by DCI format 0_0 or RAR. In addition, there are two types of PUSCH frequency hopping, i.e., intra-slot frequency hopping or inter-slot frequency hopping. Inter-slot hopping is only applied to multi-slot PUSCH transmissions.

The msgAPUSCH may be transmitted on time/frequency (T/F) resources known as PUSCH Opportunities (PO). A resource set containing multiple PUSCH opportunities may be defined. For example, it may be referred to as the "msgA PUSCH set". A PUSCH resource element (PUSCH RU) may be defined as a PUSCH Opportunity (PO) for msgA payload transmission and a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) port/DMRS sequence. The PUSCH RU allows for multi-user multiple input multiple output (MU-MIMO) reception. Each PUSCH RU occupies a set of contiguous subcarriers and symbols. The msgA PUSCH set occurs periodically and has a known symbol length and frequency position. The msgA PUSCH set may contain multiple POs that are contiguous in frequency and time (including guard band or period, if defined).

The PUSCH RU has "K" PRBs. K may vary, and a given PRB may contain PUSCH RUs having different sizes. K is identified by the preamble used. If a PRB contains PUSCH RUs with different sizes K, the DMRS Identifier (ID) may be a function of that size. That is, total # DMRS ═ size of (# PO) x (PUSCH RU per PO). The UE may randomly select a PUSCH RU index "n" from the configured set.

In NR release 15, the time and frequency resources on which the PRACH preamble is transmitted are defined as PRACH opportunities (PRACH occase). In the present disclosure, a PRACH opportunity may also be referred to as a RACH opportunity, or a Random Access (RA) opportunity, or simply as an RO. The RO used to transmit the preamble in the 2-step RA may be referred to as a 2-step RO, and the RO used to transmit the preamble in the 4-step RA may be referred to as a 4-step RO.

The time resources and preamble formats used for PRACH transmission are configured by a PRACH configuration index indicating rows in the PRACH configuration table specified in tables 6.3.3.2-2, 6.3.3.2-3, 6.3.3.2-4 of TS 38.211 (for FR1 paired spectrum, FR1 unpaired spectrum, and FR2 with unpaired spectrum, respectively). FR1 denotes a first frequency range, e.g. a low frequency range. FR2 denotes a second frequency range, for example a high frequency range.

For example, in table 6.3.3.2-3 for FR1 unpaired spectrum, for PRACH preamble format 0, the value of x indicates the PRACH configuration period in number of system frames. The value of y indicates the system frame on which the PRACH opportunity is configured within each PRACH configuration period. For example, if y is set to 0, it means a PRACH opportunity configured only in the first frame of each PRACH configuration period. The values in the column "subframe number" tell on which subframes PRACH opportunities are configured. The values in the column "start symbol" are symbol indices.

In the case of TDD, the semi-statically configured Downlink (DL) part and/or the actually transmitted Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) may override and invalidate some time domain PRACH opportunities defined in the (override) PRACH configuration table. More specifically, the PRACH opportunity in the Uplink (UL) part is always valid, and the PRACH opportunity within the X part is valid as long as the following conditions are met: the PRACH opportunity is not before or colliding with the SSB in the RACH slot and the PRACH opportunity is after the DL portion and at least N symbols after the last symbol of the SSB. N is 0 or 2 depending on the PRACH format and subcarrier spacing.

In the frequency domain, NR supports multiple frequency multiplexed PRACH opportunities on the same time domain PRACH opportunity. This is mainly motivated by the fact that: analog beam scanning is supported in NR such that PRACH opportunities associated with one SSB are configured at the same time instance, but different frequency locations. The number of Frequency Division Multiplexed (FDM) PRACH opportunities in one time domain PRACH opportunity may be 1, 2, 4, or 8. Fig. 4 gives an example of PRACH opportunity configuration in NR.

In NR release 15, for each PRACH opportunity in each cell, there are up to 64 sequences that may be used as random access preambles. The RRC parameter totalNumberOfRA-Preambles determines how many of these 64 sequences are used as random access Preambles for each PRACH opportunity in each cell. The 64 sequences are configured by: all available cyclic shifts of the root Zadoff-Chu sequence are included first and then in increasing order of root index until 64 preambles have been generated for that PRACH opportunity.

Unlike msg3 PUSCH, msgA PUSCH is not scheduled by any signaling or messages used for initial transmission. It is therefore desirable to provide a method on how to enable or disable msgA PUSCH frequency hopping, at least for initial transmission of msgA PUSCH.

Further, whether inter-slot hopping would be supported or intra-slot hopping would be supported may depend on the msgA PUSCH transmission scheme, e.g., whether msgA PUSCH repetition is supported for msgA PUSCH. The PUSCH resource allocation type may also need to be considered as it will affect the probability of frequency hopping.

The present disclosure proposes an improved solution for a 2-step random access procedure. The solution may be applied to a wireless communication system comprising a terminal device and a base station. The terminal device may communicate with the base station over a radio access communication link. A base station may provide a radio access communication link to terminal devices within its communication serving cell. The base station may be, for example, a gbb in NR. It should be noted that communication between the terminal device and the base station may be performed according to any suitable communication standard and protocol. A terminal device may also be referred to as, for example, a device, an access terminal, a User Equipment (UE), a mobile station, a mobile unit, a subscriber station, etc. A terminal device may refer to any end device capable of accessing a wireless communication network and receiving services therefrom. By way of example, and not limitation, terminal devices may include portable computers, image capture terminal devices such as digital cameras, gaming terminal devices, music storage and playback appliances, mobile telephones, cellular telephones, smart phones, tablets, wearable devices, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), and the like.

In an internet of things (IoT) scenario, a terminal device may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and/or measurements and communicates the results of such monitoring and/or measurements to another terminal device and/or network device. In this case, the terminal device may be a machine-to-machine (M2M) device, which may be referred to as a Machine Type Communication (MTC) device in the 3 rd generation partnership project (3GPP) context. Particular examples of such machines or devices may include sensors, metering devices such as power meters, industrial machinery, bicycles, vehicles, or household or personal appliances (e.g., refrigerators, televisions), personal wearable devices (such as watches), and so forth.

Several embodiments will now be described to explain an improved solution for the random access procedure. As a first embodiment, the msgA PUSCH hopping and/or frequency offset may be configured in an RRC message, which may be a cell specific message, and/or a UE specific RRC message. UE specific messages may be used when the UE is in RRC connected mode.

As an example, in the PUSCH-ConfigCommon Information Element (IE), the underlined parameters given below may be configured for cell-specific signaling to control msgA PUSCH frequency hopping.

As another example, in the PUSCH-Config IE, similar parameters may be configured for UE-specific signaling to control msgA PUSCH hopping.

As a second embodiment, the frequency offset may be predetermined. As a first option, the frequency offset is equal to

Wherein f is a scaling factor and

is the total span of PRBs occupied by PUSCH POs. As one example, f may take a predefined value. Possible values may include, but are not limited to, 1, 1/2, and 1/4. As another example, f may be a value signaled from the network.

As a second option, the frequency offset may be associated with one or more of the following factors. The first factor is the total number of PRBs spanned by the PUSCH opportunity. For example, the RB offset value should be no less than the maximum total number of PRBs occupied by the msgA PUSCH opportunity of the first hop. The PUSCH opportunity may have one or more sizes. The second factor is the size of the active BWP in which msgA is sent as part of the random access procedure. The third factor is the location of the PUSCH opportunity. For example, when the msgA PUSCH in one current opportunity is to be repeated in another opportunity, the other opportunity may be determined by the current opportunity to ensure that they are on different PRBs within the PUSCH set. The fourth factor is the number of PRBs used for one PUSCH opportunity. The fifth factor is the location and size of the PUSCH opportunity set.

As a third option, the frequency offset is relative to the starting PRB, which may be, or be a function of: a starting PRB for a PUSCH opportunity for a first hop; a starting PRB of a PUSCH opportunity set; a starting PRB of a corresponding RACH opportunity for a corresponding msgA preamble transmission. Note that the starting PRB may be signaled in an RRC message, e.g., in system information block type 1(SIB 1).

As a third embodiment, the frequency hopping flag may be implicitly indicated by the configuration offset. As an example, when the frequency offset is not configured, this means that frequency hopping is not enabled. As another example, when the frequency offset is set to 0, there is no frequency hopping.

As a fourth embodiment, the hopping type for msgA PUSCH may be one or more of the following: intra-slot, inter-slot, intra-PO, and inter-PO. Intra-slot means that frequency hopping is performed within the slot allocated for the PUSCH. Inter-slot means that when multi-slot transmission is supported for msgA PUSCH, frequency hopping is applied between slots. Here, the multi-slot transmission may be one of: 1) msgA PUSCH repeats in different slots, but repeats on the same Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbol in each slot; 2) the msgA PUSCH repeats in different slots and also repeats on different OFDM symbols in each slot. intra-PO means that msgA PUSCH may be repeated within one PO set, but on different PRBs in order to achieve frequency diversity. In some cases, the PO may span less than one slot and its repetitions are then transmitted on different frequency allocations within one slot. inter-PO means that msgA PUSCH can be repeated between different PO sets and on different PRBs to achieve frequency diversity.

Which type of hopping to use may be RRC-configured, which may be cell-specific signaling (e.g., in SIB1), and/or UE-specific signaling that may be applied when the UE is in RRC-connected mode. As an example, when intra-slot and inter-slot hopping is applied, cell-specific signaling may be included in the PUSCH-ConfigCommon IE to indicate whether inter-slot or intra-slot hopping is used. As shown below, in the PUSCH-ConfigCommon IE, the underlined parameters given below may be configured to control msgA PUSCH hopping.

As another example, similar parameters may be placed in the PUSCH-Config IE for UE-specific signaling.

As a fifth embodiment, the number of repetitions and/or Redundancy Version (RV) pattern may be signaled in an RRC message or predetermined in order to support inter-slot hopping, or intra-PO hopping, or inter-PO hopping. For example, some signaling may be included in the PUSCH-ConfigCommon IE to support repetition of the msgA PUSCH, as shown below.

As a sixth embodiment, the msgA PUSCH transmission configuration may be determined by the msgA preamble, and/or one or more parameters of the msgA PUSCH configuration. As a first option, the msgA PUSCH transmission configuration (including its frequency hopping configuration) may be determined by the cell specific PRACH configuration used for the msgA preamble. In particular, some of the cell-specific PRACH configurations may be provided by, for example, RACH-ConfigGeneric within RACH-ConfigCommon IE (or its equivalent). Similarly, some of the UE-specific PRACH configurations may be provided by, for example, RACH-ConfigGeneric (or equivalent) within the RACH-Config IE. Within initial active uplink BWP during initial access, PRACH frequency resources n are ordered in increasing order starting from lowest frequency_RAE {0,1, …, M-1}, where M is equal to a higher layer parameter msg1-FDM (or equivalent, or msgA-FDM with respect to the number of msgA PRACH opportunities that are frequency division multiplexed). The value of M may be 1, 2, 4 or 8. For example, the msgA PUSCH hopping configuration may be a function of the M value.

In one example, msgA PUSCH hopping is only possible when M takes a particular value, e.g., M1 or M {1 or 2 }. In another example, the msgA PUSCH frequency offset (when frequency hopping is enabled) is a function of M. For example, the frequency offset is equal to

In yet another example, the msgA PUSCH starting RB for Frequency Hopping (FH) is msg 1-freqystart (or equivalent, or starting PRB for msgA preamble, or for msgA PUSCHmsgA-frequency start of the starting PRB of an opportunity, or the starting PRB of the entire PUSCH opportunity set). As an illustrative example, RB_startIs equal to

Wherein

Indicating the PRB index provided by msg1-FrequencyStart or msgA-FrequencyStart. Here, RB_startRepresents msgA PUSCH start RB for FH. As another illustrative example, RB_startIs equal to

As a second option, the msgA PUSCH hopping configuration depends on whether a transform precoder (transform precoder) of the msgA PUSCH is enabled. As a third option, the msgA PUSCH hopping configuration depends on whether the 2-step RACH is performed as contention-based random access (CBRA) or contention-free random access (CFRA). Frequency hopping of msgA PUSCH is particularly useful to combat interference when 2-step RACH is contention-based.

As a seventh embodiment, the msgA PUSCH FH configuration is part of a 2-step RACH configuration table. In this embodiment, the RACH configuration table is extended to include msgA PUSCH hopping parameters. For example, for each RACH configuration index indicating a row in the RACH configuration table, a corresponding msgA PUSCH hopping parameter is added to the row. Therefore, when using the higher layer parameter PRACH-configuration index (or equivalent) to look up the PRACH configuration in the table, the msgA PUSCH FH parameter is also obtained.

The FH parameters may include one or more of the following: msgA PUSCH FH is enabled or not enabled; msgA PUSCH Start RB for FH, i.e., RB_start(ii) a msgA PUSCH FH offset; and the number of slots K spanned by msgA PUSCH. If K is>1, inter-slot hopping of msgA PUSCH may be applied. If K is<1, then only intra-slot hopping of msgA PUSCH can be applied.

As an eighth embodiment, the msgA PUSCH FH configuration considers other system configurations. In one example, the msgA PUSCH FH configuration is affected by FDD or TDD of the cell configuration. For example, in case of FDD, msgA PUSCH has all symbols and slots available for PUSCH transmission and does not need to impose restrictions on inter-slot and intra-slot FH due to UL/DL transmission mode.

On the other hand, in case of TDD, UL/DL transmission mode needs to be considered in PUSCH transmission. PUSCH transmission is only valid when the associated symbol is for UL. For example, semi-statically configured DL symbols and/or slots may cover (override) msgA PUSCH transmissions, including intra-slot and inter-slot transmissions thereof. Semi-statically configured UL symbols and/or slots may be used for msgA PUSCH transmission at all times. Semi-statically configured flexible symbols/slots may be used for msgA PUSCH transmissions unless they collide with the indicated actual SSB transmission. Here, the semi-static DL/UL allocation is done via cell-specific RRC configuration and/or UE-specific RRC configuration. In RRC connected mode, the UE may use cell-specific and UE-specific RRC configurations in a 2-step RA. In RRC idle/inactive state, the UE may use cell-specific RRC configuration in 2-step RA.

In another example, the msgA PUSCH FH configuration considers the operating spectrum. For example, the configuration may be different depending on whether the spectrum belongs to FR1 (low band 38.101-1) or FR2 (high band 38.101-2). Another example is that different FH configurations may be introduced for wide or narrow frequency bands. A certain predetermined number of PRBs may be used as a threshold to determine whether it is a narrow band or a wide band.

In another example, the msgA PUSCH FH configuration considers whether the uplink carrier in which the 2-step RACH occurred is a normal UL carrier or a supplementary UL carrier. In another example, the msgA PUSCH FH configuration may depend on whether a 2-step RACH is performed in the initial active UL BWP.

In the following, the solution will be further described with reference to fig. 5 to 15. Fig. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating a method implemented at a terminal device in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. At block 502, the terminal device determines a frequency hopping configuration for transmitting one or more PUSCHs in a request message for random access. At block 504, the terminal device transmits one or more PUSCHs in a request message based on the frequency hopping configuration. The request message includes at least a PRACH preamble and the one or more PUSCHs.

The random access may be a two-step random access. The frequency hopping configuration may include, but is not limited to, one or more parameters indicating: enabling and/or disabling of frequency hopping; a starting PRB for frequency hopping; a frequency offset for frequency hopping; a frequency hopping type which is one of intra-slot frequency hopping, inter-slot frequency hopping, intra-PO frequency hopping, and inter-PO frequency hopping; a number of slots spanned by the one or more PUSCHs; and Redundancy Version (RV) for more than one PUSCH.

There may be six options for implementing block 502. As a first option, the frequency hopping configuration may be determined based on RRC signaling. Thus, the determination at block 502 may include receiving at least a portion of a frequency hopping configuration from a base station in RRC signaling. At least a portion of the frequency hopping configuration may be explicitly signaled in RRC signaling or implicitly indicated in RRC signaling. The RRC signaling may be cell-specific RRC signaling or RRC signaling specific to the terminal device. As one example, the terminal device may determine to disable frequency hopping when no frequency offset is configured in RRC signaling. As another example, the terminal device may determine to disable frequency hopping when the frequency offset is set to zero in RRC signaling.

As a second option, one or more parameters in the frequency hopping configuration may be determined to be predetermined values. As an illustrative example, if RRC signaling indicates only the enabling of frequency hopping but not the frequency offset, the terminal device may use a predetermined value as the frequency offset. Similarly, any other parameter than the frequency offset may be determined as the predetermined value.

As a third option, one or more parameters in the frequency hopping configuration may be determined based on the PRACH configuration for the PRACH preamble. The PRACH configuration for the PRACH preamble may include, but is not limited to, one or more of the following: an extended PRACH configuration table from which one or more parameters in the frequency hopping configuration can be retrieved according to a PRACH configuration index; a number of PRACH opportunities; a starting PRB of a PRACH preamble; and whether to perform random access as CBRA or CFRA.

As one example, the terminal device may determine that frequency hopping is enabled when the number of PRACH opportunities assumes a predetermined value. As another example, the frequency offset for frequency hopping may be determined as a function of the number of PRACH opportunities. As another example, the starting PRB for frequency hopping may be determined as a function of the number of PRACH opportunities and/or the starting PRB of the PRACH preamble.

As a fourth option, one or more parameters in the frequency hopping configuration may be determined based on the PUSCH configuration for the request message. The PUSCH configuration for the request message may include, but is not limited to, one or more parameters indicating: enabling and/or disabling of transform precoding; a number of PRBs spanned by one or more POs of one or more sizes; the location of the PO to be used; the size of the PO set to be used; the location of the PO set to be used; a starting PRB for a PO for a first hop; the starting PRB of the PO set to be used.

As one example, the frequency offset for frequency hopping may be determined as a function of at least one of: a number of PRBs spanned by one or more POs of one or more sizes; and the position of the PO to be used. For example, the frequency offset may be determined as a scaling factor multiplied by the number of PRBs spanned by one or more POs of one or more sizes.

As another example, the starting PRB for frequency hopping may be determined as a function of at least one of: a number of PRBs spanned by one or more POs of one or more sizes; a starting PRB for a PO for a first hop; and a starting PRB of the PO set to be used.

As a fifth option, the one or more parameters in the frequency hopping configuration may be determined based on one or more of: whether FDD or TDD is used by the cell serving the terminal device; different frequency bands in which the terminal device operates; whether a regular uplink carrier or a supplemental uplink carrier is to be used for random access; whether random access is to be performed in initial active uplink BWP; and the size of the active BWP. For example, the frequency offset for frequency hopping may be determined based on the size of the active BWP. As a sixth option, a combination of any two or more of the above first to fifth options may be used. Regardless of which option is used, the PUSCH for the request message for random access may be transmitted with the appropriate hopping configuration.

Fig. 6 is a flow chart illustrating a method implemented at a base station in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. At block 602, the base station determines a frequency hopping configuration to be used by the terminal device to transmit one or more PUSCHs in a request message for random access. The random access may be a two-step random access. The frequency hopping configuration may include, but is not limited to, one or more parameters indicating: enable and/or disable frequency hopping; a starting PRB for frequency hopping; a frequency offset for frequency hopping; a frequency hopping type, which may be one of intra-slot frequency hopping, inter-slot frequency hopping, intra-PO frequency hopping, and inter-PO frequency hopping; a number of slots spanned by the one or more PUSCHs; and Redundancy Version (RV) for more than one PUSCH. The above-described principle for determining the frequency hopping configuration on the terminal device side can be similarly applied to the base station side. At block 604, the base station receives one or more PUSCHs in a request message for random access based on a frequency hopping configuration.

Alternatively, the base station may indicate the frequency hopping configuration to the terminal device in RRC signaling. In this way, the terminal device may be provided with a frequency hopping configuration for use in transmitting the PUSCH of the request message for random access. The RRC signaling may be cell-specific RRC signaling or terminal device-specific RRC signaling. The frequency hopping configuration may be explicitly signaled in RRC signaling or implicitly indicated in RRC signaling. It should be noted that two blocks shown in succession in the figures may in fact be executed substantially concurrently or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved.

Based on the foregoing description, at least one aspect of the present disclosure provides a method implemented in a communication system. The method comprises the following steps: at the base station, a frequency hopping configuration to be used by the terminal device to transmit one or more PUSCHs in a request message for random access is determined. The method further comprises the following steps: at a terminal device, a frequency hopping configuration is determined for transmitting one or more PUSCHs in a request message for random access. The method further comprises the following steps: at the terminal device, one or more PUSCHs are transmitted in a request message based on the frequency hopping configuration. The request message includes at least a PRACH preamble and the one or more PUSCHs. The method further comprises the following steps: one or more PUSCHs are received in a request message for random access based on a frequency hopping configuration at a base station.

Fig. 7 is a block diagram illustrating an apparatus suitable for use in practicing some embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, any of the terminal devices and base stations described above may be implemented by the apparatus 700. As shown, the apparatus 700 may include a processor 710, a memory 720 storing programs, and an optional communication interface 730 for data communication with other external devices via wired and/or wireless communication.

The programs include program instructions that, when executed by processor 710, enable apparatus 700 to operate in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, as discussed above. That is, embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented at least in part by computer software executable by processor 710, or by hardware, or by a combination of software and hardware.

The memory 720 may be of any type suitable to the local technical environment and may be implemented using any suitable data storage technology, such as semiconductor-based memory devices, flash memory, magnetic memory devices and systems, optical memory devices and systems, fixed memory and removable memory. The processor 710 may be of any type suitable to the local technical environment, and may include one or more of general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, Digital Signal Processors (DSPs) and processors based on a multi-core processor architecture, as non-limiting examples.

Fig. 8 is a block diagram illustrating a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown, terminal device 800 includes a determination module 802 and a transmission module 804. The determining module 802 may be configured to determine a frequency hopping configuration for transmitting one or more PUSCHs in a request message for random access, as described above with respect to block 502. The transmitting module 804 may be configured to transmit the one or more PUSCHs in a request message based on the frequency hopping configuration, as described above with respect to block 504. The request message includes at least a PRACH preamble and one or more PUSCHs.

Fig. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a base station according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown, the base station 900 includes a determining module 902 and a receiving module 904. The determining module 902 may be configured to determine a frequency hopping configuration to be used by the terminal device to transmit one or more PUSCHs in a request message for random access, as described above with respect to block 602. The receiving module 904 may be configured to receive one or more PUSCHs in a request message for random access based on a frequency hopping configuration, as described above with respect to block 604. The modules described above may be implemented by hardware, or software, or a combination of both.

Based on the above description, at least one aspect of the present disclosure provides a communication system. The communication system includes a base station configured to: determining a frequency hopping configuration to be used by a terminal device to transmit one or more PUSCHs in a request message for random access; and receiving one or more PUSCHs in a request message for random access based on the frequency hopping configuration. The communication system further comprises a terminal device configured to: determining a frequency hopping configuration for transmitting one or more PUSCHs in a request message for random access; and transmitting one or more PUSCHs in the request message based on the frequency hopping configuration. The request message includes at least a PRACH preamble and one or more PUSCHs.

Referring to fig. 10, according to an embodiment, a communication system includes a telecommunications network 3210, such as a 3GPP type cellular network, which includes an access network 3211, such as a radio access network, and a core network 3214. The access network 3211 includes a plurality of

base stations

3212a, 3212b, 3212c (such as NBs, enbs, gnbs, or other types of wireless access points), each defining a

corresponding coverage area

3213a, 3213b, 3213 c. Each

base station

3212a, 3212b, 3212c may be connected to the core network 3214 by a wired or wireless connection 3215. A first UE 3291 located in a coverage area 3213c is configured to wirelessly connect to a corresponding base station 3212c or be paged by the corresponding base station 3212 c. A second UE3292 in coverage area 3213a may be wirelessly connected to a corresponding base station 3212 a. Although

multiple UEs

3291, 3292 are shown in this example, the disclosed embodiments are equally applicable to situations where a single UE is in the coverage area or is connected to a corresponding base station 3212.

The telecommunications network 3210 is itself connected to a host 3230, which may be embodied in hardware and/or software of a standalone server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server, or as a processing resource in a server farm (server farm). The host 3230 may be under the ownership or control of the service provider, or may be operated by or on behalf of the service provider.

Connections

3221 and 3222 between the telecommunications network 3210 and the host 3230 may extend directly from the core network 3214 to the host 3230, or may extend via an optional intermediate network 3220. Intermediate network 3220 may be one of a public network, a private network, or a hosted network (hosted network), or a combination of more than one; the intermediate network 3220 may be a backbone network or the internet, if any; in particular, the intermediate network 3220 may include two or more sub-networks (not shown).

The communication system of fig. 10 as a whole enables connectivity between connected

UEs

3291, 3292 and a host 3230. This connectivity may be described as an over-the-top (OTT) connection 3250. The host 3230 and connected

UEs

3291, 3292 are configured to communicate data and/or signaling via an OTT connection 3250 using as an intermediary the access network 3211, the core network 3214, any intermediate networks 3220 and possibly further infrastructure (not shown). OTT connection 3250 may be transparent in the sense that the participating communication devices through which OTT connection 3250 passes are not aware of the routing of uplink and downlink communications. For example, the base station 3212 may not or need not be informed of past routes of incoming downlink communications with data originating from the host 3230 to be forwarded (e.g., handed over) to the connected UE 3291. Similarly, the base station 3212 need not be aware of future routes for uplink communications originating from the UE 3291 and traveling toward the host 3230.

An example implementation according to an embodiment of the UE, base station and host discussed in the preceding paragraphs will now be described with reference to fig. 11. In the communication system 3300, the host 3310 includes hardware 3315, and the hardware 3315 includes a communication interface 3316 configured to establish and maintain a wired or wireless connection with an interface of a different communication device of the communication system 3300. The host 3310 also includes processing circuitry 3318, which processing circuitry 3318 may have memory and/or processing capabilities. In particular, the processing circuit 3318 may include one or more programmable processors, application specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays, or a combination of these (not shown) adapted to execute instructions. The host 3310 also includes software 3311, which is stored on the host 3310 or accessible by the host 3310 and executable by the processing circuitry 3318. The software 3311 includes a host application 3312. The host application 3312 may be operable to provide services to remote users, such as UE 3330 connected via an OTT connection 3350 that terminates at UE 3330 and host 3310. In providing services to remote users, the host application 3312 may provide user data that is communicated using the OTT connection 3350.

The communication system 3300 also includes a base station 3320, which base station 3320 is provided in the telecommunications system and includes hardware 3325 that enables it to communicate with the host 3310 and the UE 3330. The hardware 3325 may include a communications interface 3326 for setting up and maintaining wired or wireless connections with interfaces of different communication devices of the communication system 3300, and a radio interface 3327 for setting up and maintaining at least a wireless connection 3370 with a UE 3330 located in a coverage area (not shown in fig. 11) served by the base station 3320. Communication interface 3326 may be configured to facilitate connection 3360 to a host 3310. The connection 3360 may be direct or the connection 3360 may traverse a core network (not shown in fig. 11) of the telecommunications system and/or traverse one or more intermediate networks external to the telecommunications system. In the illustrated embodiment, the hardware 3325 of the base station 3320 also includes processing circuitry 3328, which may include one or more programmable processors, application specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays, or a combination of these (not shown) adapted to execute instructions. Base station 3320 also has software 3321 stored internally or accessible via an external connection.

The communication system 3300 also includes the already mentioned UE 3330. Its hardware 3335 may include a radio interface 3337 configured to set up and maintain a wireless connection 3370 with a base station serving the coverage area in which the UE 3330 is currently located. The hardware 3335 of the UE 3330 also includes processing circuitry 3338, which may include one or more programmable processors, application specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays, or a combination of these (not shown) adapted to execute instructions. The UE 3330 also includes software 3331 that is stored in the UE 3330 or is accessible to the UE 3330 and executable by the processing circuitry 3338. The software 3331 includes a client application 3332. The client application 3332 may be operable to provide services to human or non-human users via the UE 3330 with the support of the host 3310. In the host 3310, the executing host application 3312 may communicate with the executing client application 3332 via an OTT connection 3350 that terminates at the UE 3330 and the host 3310. In providing services to the user, the client application 3332 may receive request data from the host application 3312 and provide user data in response to the request data. The OTT connection 3350 may carry both request data and user data. The client application 3332 may interact with the user to generate user data that it provides.

It should be noted that host 3310, base station 3320, and UE 3330 shown in fig. 11 may be similar to or the same as host 3230, one of

base stations

3212a, 3212b, 3212c, and one of

UEs

3291, 3292, respectively, of fig. 10. That is, the internal workings of these entities may be as shown in fig. 11, and independently, the surrounding network topology may be that of fig. 10.

In fig. 11, OTT connection 3350 has been abstractly drawn to illustrate communication between host 3310 and UE 3330 via base station 3320 without explicit reference to any intermediate devices and the precise routing of messages via these devices. The network infrastructure may determine the route, which may be configured to hide the route from the UE 3330, or from the service provider operating the host 3310, or both. When the OTT connection 3350 is active, the network infrastructure may also make a decision by which the network infrastructure dynamically changes routing (e.g., based on load balancing considerations or reconfiguration of the network).

The wireless connection 3370 between the UE 3330 and the base station 3320 is in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. One or more of the various embodiments improve performance of OTT services provided to the UE 3330 using the OTT connection 3350 in which the wireless connection 3370 forms the last segment in the OTT connection 3350. More precisely, the teachings of these embodiments may improve latency and thereby provide benefits such as reduced user latency.

Measurement procedures may be provided for the purpose of monitoring data rates, delays, and other factors of one or more embodiment improvements. There may also be optional network functions for reconfiguring the OTT connection 3350 between the host 3310 and the UE 3330 in response to changes in the measurements. The measurement procedures and/or network functions for reconfiguring the OTT connection 3350 may be implemented in the software 3311 and hardware 3315 of the host 3310, or in the software 3331 and hardware 3335 of the UE 3330, or both. In some embodiments, sensors (not shown) may be deployed in or associated with the communication device through which OTT connection 3350 passes; the sensors may participate in the measurement process by supplying the values of the monitored quantities exemplified above, or other physical quantities from which the supplying

software

3311, 3331 may calculate or estimate the monitored quantities. The reconfiguration of OTT connection 3350 may include message format, retransmission settings, preferred routing, etc.; the reconfiguration need not affect base station 3320 and the reconfiguration may be unknown or imperceptible to base station 3320. Such procedures and functions may be known in the art and practiced. In certain embodiments, the measurements may involve proprietary UE signaling that facilitates measurements of throughput, propagation time, delay, etc. of host 3310. The measurements may be implemented because the

software

3311 and 3331 cause messages (in particular, null messages or 'false' messages) to be transmitted using the OTT connection 3350, while the

software

3311 and 3331 monitor propagation time, errors, etc.

Fig. 12 is a flow diagram illustrating a method implemented in a communication system in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system includes a host, a base station and a UE, which may be those described with reference to fig. 10 and 11. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only the drawing reference to fig. 12 will be included in this section. In step 3410, the host provides the user data. In sub-step 3411 of step 3410 (which may be optional), the host provides the user data by executing a host application. In step 3420, the host initiates a transmission to the UE carrying user data. In step 3430 (which may be optional), the base station sends the user data carried in the host-initiated transmission to the UE according to the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. In step 3440 (which may be optional), the UE executes a client application associated with a host application executed by the host.

Fig. 13 is a flow diagram illustrating a method implemented in a communication system in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system includes a host, a base station and a UE, which may be those described with reference to fig. 10 and 11. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only the drawing reference to fig. 13 will be included in this section. In step 3510 of the method, the host provides user data. In an optional sub-step (not shown), the host provides user data by executing a host application. In step 3520, the host initiates a transmission to the UE carrying user data. According to the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure, the transmission may be via a base station. In step 3530 (which may be optional), the UE receives the user data carried in the transmission.

Fig. 14 is a flow chart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system according to one embodiment. The communication system includes a host, a base station and a UE, which may be those described with reference to fig. 10 and 11. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only the drawing reference to fig. 14 will be included in this section. In step 3610 (which may be optional), the UE receives input data provided by the host. Additionally or alternatively, in step 3620, the UE provides user data. In sub-step 3621 (which may be optional) of step 3620, the UE provides the user data by executing a client application. In sub-step 3611 of step 3610 (which may be optional), the UE executes a client application that provides user data as a reaction to the received input data provided by the host. The executed client application may also take into account user input received from the user in providing the user data. Regardless of the specific manner in which the user data is provided, in sub-step 3630 (which may be optional), the UE initiates transmission of the user data to the host. In step 3640 of the method, the host receives user data sent from the UE in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure.

Fig. 15 is a flow diagram illustrating a method implemented in a communication system in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system includes a host, a base station and a UE, which may be those described with reference to fig. 10 and 11. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only the figure reference to fig. 15 will be included in this section. In step 3710 (which may be optional), the base station receives user data from the UE in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. In step 3720 (which may be optional), the base station initiates transmission of the received user data to the host. In step 3730 (which may be optional), the host receives user data carried in a base station initiated transmission.

According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a method implemented in a communication system including a host, a base station, and a terminal device is provided. The method comprises the following steps: user data transmitted from a terminal device to a base station is received at a host. The terminal device determines a frequency hopping configuration for transmitting one or more PUSCHs in a request message for random access. The terminal device transmits one or more PUSCHs in a request message based on the frequency hopping configuration. The request message includes at least a PRACH preamble and one or more PUSCHs.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the method may further include: user data is provided at the terminal device to the base station.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the method may further include: a client application is executed at the terminal device, providing user data to be transmitted. The method may further comprise: a host application associated with the client application is executed at the host.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the method may further include: a client application is executed at the terminal device. The method may further comprise: input data for a client application is received at a terminal device. Input data may be provided at a host by executing a host application associated with a client application. The user data to be sent may be provided by the client application in response to the input data.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a communication system including a host is provided. The host comprises a communication interface configured to receive user data originating from a transmission from a terminal device to a base station. The terminal device comprises a radio interface and processing circuitry. The processing circuitry of the terminal device is configured to determine a frequency hopping configuration for transmitting one or more PUSCHs in a request message for random access. The processing circuitry of the terminal device is further configured to transmit the one or more PUSCHs in the request message based on the frequency hopping configuration. The request message includes at least a PRACH preamble and one or more PUSCHs.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the communication system may further include a terminal device.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the communication system may further include a base station. The base station may comprise a radio interface configured to communicate with the terminal device, and a communication interface configured to forward user data carried by transmissions from the terminal device to the base station to the host.

In embodiments of the present disclosure, the processing circuitry of the host may be configured to execute a host application. The processing circuitry of the terminal device may be configured to execute a client application associated with the host application to provide the user data.

In embodiments of the present disclosure, the processing circuitry of the host may be configured to execute a host application to provide the requested data. The processing circuitry of the terminal device may be configured to execute a client application associated with the host application to provide the user data in response to requesting the data.

According to yet another aspect of the present disclosure, a method implemented in a communication system including a host, a base station, and a terminal device is provided. The method comprises the following steps: user data originating from transmissions that the base station has received from the terminal device is received at the host from the base station. The base station determines a frequency hopping configuration to be used by the terminal device to transmit one or more PUSCHs in a request message for random access. The base station receives one or more PUSCHs in a request message for random access based on a frequency hopping configuration.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the method may further include: user data is received at the base station from the terminal device.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the method may further include: transmission of the received user data is initiated at the base station to the host.

According to yet another aspect of the present disclosure, a communication system including a host is provided. The host comprises a communication interface configured to receive user data originating from a transmission from a terminal device to a base station. The base station comprises a radio interface and processing circuitry. The processing circuitry of the base station is configured to determine a frequency hopping configuration to be used by the terminal device to transmit the one or more PUSCHs in the request message for random access. The processing circuitry of the base station is further configured to receive one or more PUSCHs in a request message for random access based on the frequency hopping configuration.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the communication system may further include a base station.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the communication system may further include a terminal device. The terminal device may be configured to communicate with a base station.

In embodiments of the present disclosure, the processing circuitry of the host may be configured to execute a host application. The terminal device may be configured to execute a client application associated with the host application, thereby providing user data to be received by the host.

In general, the various exemplary embodiments may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic or any combination thereof. For example, some aspects may be implemented in hardware, while other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device, although the disclosure is not limited thereto. While various aspects of the exemplary embodiments of this disclosure may be illustrated and described as block diagrams, flow charts, or using some other pictorial representation, it is well understood that these blocks, apparatus, systems, techniques or methods described herein may be implemented in, as non-limiting examples, hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

As such, it should be understood that at least some aspects of the exemplary embodiments of this disclosure may be practiced in various components, such as integrated circuit chips and modules. Accordingly, it should be understood that example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in a device embodied as an integrated circuit, where the integrated circuit may include circuitry (and possibly firmware) for embodying at least one or more of a data processor, a digital signal processor, baseband circuitry, and radio frequency circuitry that may be configured to operate in accordance with example embodiments of the present disclosure.

It should be understood that at least some aspects of the exemplary embodiments of this disclosure may be embodied in computer-executable instructions, such as in one or more program modules, executed by one or more computers or other devices. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types when executed by a processor in a computer or other device. The computer executable instructions may be stored on a computer readable medium such as a hard disk, optical disk, removable storage media, solid state memory, RAM, etc. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the functionality of the program modules may be combined or distributed as desired in various embodiments. Additionally, the functions described may be embodied in whole or in part in firmware or hardware equivalents such as integrated circuits, Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), and the like.

References in the disclosure to "one embodiment," "an embodiment," etc., indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but every embodiment may not necessarily include the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to effect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described.

It will be understood that, although the terms first, second, etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another. For example, a first element may be referred to as a second element, and similarly, a second element may be referred to as a first element, without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. As used herein, the term "and/or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed terms.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the disclosure. As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms "comprises," "comprising," "includes" and/or "including," when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. The term "connected" as used herein covers a direct and/or indirect connection between two elements.

The disclosure includes any novel feature or combination of features disclosed herein either explicitly or in any generalised form thereof. Various modifications and adaptations to the foregoing exemplary embodiments of this disclosure may become apparent to those skilled in the relevant arts in view of the foregoing description, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. However, any and all modifications will still fall within the scope of the non-limiting and exemplary embodiments of this disclosure.

Claims

1. A method performed by a terminal device, comprising:

determining (502) a frequency hopping configuration for transmitting one or more physical uplink shared channels, PUSCHs, in a request message for random access; and

transmitting (504) the one or more PUSCHs in the request message based on the frequency hopping configuration, the request message comprising at least a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) preamble and the one or more PUSCHs.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the frequency hopping configuration comprises one or more parameters indicating:

enabling and/or disabling of frequency hopping;

a starting physical resource block, PRB, for frequency hopping;

a frequency offset for frequency hopping;

a frequency hopping type that is one of intra-slot frequency hopping, inter-slot frequency hopping, PUSCH opportunistic intra PO frequency hopping, and inter-PO frequency hopping;

a number of slots spanned by the one or more PUSCHs; and

redundancy version RV for more than one PUSCH.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the frequency hopping configuration is determined based on radio resource control, RRC, signaling.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the RRC signaling is cell-specific RRC signaling or RRC signaling specific to the terminal device.

5. The method according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the terminal device determines to disable frequency hopping when no frequency offset is configured in the RRC signaling.

6. The method of claim 3 or 4, wherein the terminal device determines to disable frequency hopping when a frequency offset is set to zero in the RRC signaling.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein the one or more parameters in the frequency hopping configuration are determined to be predetermined values.

8. The method of claim 2, wherein the one or more parameters in the frequency hopping configuration are determined based on a PRACH configuration for the PRACH preamble.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the PRACH configuration for the PRACH preamble comprises one or more of:

an extended PRACH configuration table from which one or more parameters in the frequency hopping configuration can be retrieved according to a PRACH configuration index;

a number of PRACH opportunities;

a starting PRB of the PRACH preamble; and

whether to perform random access as a contention-based random access, CBRA, or as a contention-free random access, CFRA.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the terminal device determines to enable frequency hopping when the number of PRACH opportunities assumes a predetermined value.

11. The method of claim 9 or 10, wherein a frequency offset for frequency hopping is determined as a function of the number of PRACH opportunities.

12. The method of any of claims 9 to 11, wherein a starting PRB for frequency hopping is determined as a function of the number of PRACH opportunities and/or the starting PRB of the PRACH preamble.

13. The method of claim 2, wherein the one or more parameters in the frequency hopping configuration are determined based on a PUSCH configuration for the request message.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the PUSCH configuration for the request message includes one or more parameters indicating:

enabling and/or disabling of transform precoding;

a number of PRBs spanned by one or more POs of one or more sizes;

the location of the PO to be used;

the size of the PO set to be used;

the location of the PO set to be used;

a starting PRB for a PO for a first hop;

the starting PRB of the PO set to be used.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein a frequency offset for frequency hopping is determined as a function of at least one of:

a number of PRBs spanned by the one or more POs having the one or more sizes; and the location of the PO to be used.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the frequency offset is determined as a scaling factor multiplied by a number of PRBs spanned by the one or more POs of one or more sizes.

17. The method according to any of claims 14-16, wherein the starting PRB for frequency hopping is determined as a function of at least one of:

a number of PRBs spanned by the one or more POs having the one or more sizes; a starting PRB of the PO for the first hop; and a starting PRB of the PO set to be used.

18. The method of claim 2, wherein the one or more parameters in the frequency hopping configuration are determined based on one or more of:

the cell serving the terminal equipment uses frequency division duplex FDD or time division duplex TDD;

different frequency bands in which the terminal device operates;

whether a regular uplink carrier or a supplementary uplink carrier is to be used for the random access;

whether the random access is to be performed in an initial active uplink bandwidth part, BWP; and

the size of the active BWP.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein a frequency offset for frequency hopping is determined based on a size of the active BWP.

20. A method performed by a base station, comprising:

determining (602) a frequency hopping configuration to be used by a terminal device to transmit one or more physical uplink shared channels, PUSCHs, in a request message for random access; and

receiving (604) the one or more PUSCHs in a request message for random access based on the frequency hopping configuration.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the frequency hopping configuration comprises one or more parameters indicating:

enabling and/or disabling of frequency hopping;

a starting physical resource block, PRB, for frequency hopping;

a frequency offset for frequency hopping;

a number of slots spanned by the one or more PUSCHs; and

redundancy version RV for more than one PUSCH.

22. A terminal device (700), comprising:

at least one processor (710); and

at least one memory (720), said at least one memory (720) containing instructions executable by said at least one processor (710), whereby said terminal device (700) is operable to:

determining a frequency hopping configuration for transmitting one or more physical uplink shared channels, PUSCHs, in a request message for random access; and

transmitting the one or more PUSCHs in the request message based on the frequency hopping configuration, the request message comprising at least a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) preamble and the one or more PUSCHs.

23. A terminal device (700) according to claim 22, wherein the terminal device (700) is operable to perform the method according to any of claims 2-19.

24. A base station (700), comprising:

at least one processor (710); and

at least one memory (720), the at least one memory (720) containing instructions executable by the at least one processor (710), whereby the base station (700) is operable to:

determining a frequency hopping configuration to be used by a terminal device to transmit one or more physical uplink shared channels, PUSCHs, in a request message for random access; and

receiving the one or more PUSCHs in a request message for random access based on the frequency hopping configuration.

25. The base station (700) of claim 24, wherein the base station (700) is operable to perform the method of claim 21.

26. A method implemented in a communication system, comprising:

determining (602), at a base station, a frequency hopping configuration to be used by a terminal device to transmit one or more physical uplink shared channels, PUSCHs, in a request message for random access;

determining (502), at a terminal device, the frequency hopping configuration for transmitting one or more PUSCHs in a request message for random access;

transmitting (504), at the terminal device, the one or more PUSCHs in the request message based on the frequency hopping configuration, the request message comprising at least a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) preamble and the one or more PUSCHs; and

receiving (604), at the base station, the one or more PUSCHs in the request message for random access based on the frequency hopping configuration.

27. A communication system, comprising:

a base station configured to: determining a frequency hopping configuration to be used by a terminal device to transmit one or more physical uplink shared channels, PUSCHs, in a request message for random access; and receiving the one or more PUSCHs in the request message for random access based on the frequency hopping configuration; and

the terminal device configured to: determining the frequency hopping configuration for transmitting one or more PUSCHs in a request message for random access; and transmitting the one or more PUSCHs in the request message based on the frequency hopping configuration, the request message comprising at least a physical random access channel, PRACH, preamble and the one or more PUSCHs.

28. A computer-readable storage medium containing instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform the method of any one of claims 1-21.